Bollywood Animators Bring Charlie Chaplin Back to Life

In one of those idea that seems so obvious in retrospect, Bollywood animation company DQ Entertainment will be producing an initial series of 104 six-minute Charlie Chaplin animated adventures based on his silent movies. “Mr Bean has delighted everyone for a number of years… It’s very, very clear that to tickle people’s funny bones you don’t really have to talk all the time and silent movies can work,” explains Tapaas Chakravarti, chairman of the company. “Chaplin did it for so many years.”

DQ have been responsible for a wide range of hit animated series including the Iron Man animated series, The Jungle Book, Lassie, the excellent Tara Duncan as well as series broadly linked to Indian legend such as Omkar, Ravan and Balkand.

India’s growing animation industry is increasingly being used by overseas companies because of its cheap costs and India’s software expertise. Tamaas is confident the Chaplin series will sell worldwide. “We’ll put Charlie in modern situations but at the same time keeping his poetic, child-like view of the world with a retro feel,” he promises.